Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is a technology that enables voice communication over the Internet using a high-speed Internet connection instead of an analog telephone line. VoIP services convert your voice into a digital signal that is divided into packets. The packets travel over the Internet to reach the recipient of the call.
Latency and Jitter in VoIP: Causes and How to Fix Problems
Delay occurs when packets of voice data take longer than expected to reach their destination. This delay, called latency, causes some disruption to voice quality. However, VoIP technology is equipped to handle some delay, so the effects are minimized.
When packets are sent across a network to a destination computer, IP phone, or VoIP service, some of them may be delayed. Reliability features in the voice quality mechanism ensure that a call does not get stuck waiting for a packet that did not arrive in time. Many factors affect the journey of packets from source to destination, and one of them is the underlying network.
The delayed packet may arrive too late or not at all, in which case it is lost. Quality of Service (QoS) considerations for voice are relatively tolerant of packet loss compared to text. If you lose a word or a zero in your balance, your text may mean something completely different. If you lose a "hu" or a "ha" in speech, it has no major impact other than some hiccups in voice quality. In addition, a voice-smoothing mechanism regulates the conversation so that you don't feel the bump.
